I watched Deathly Hallows Part 1 last night. Back when I was reading the books, I hated Book 6 so much, but then the Deathly Hallows part where Harry, Ron and Hermoine are camping really earned back my love for the series.
The whole series up to this point, both movies and books, have had these really great moments where at the core they’re about the friendship between these three people. Even just watching all these movies now back to back, it becomes really satisfying in each movie when there’s a couple of key scenes where you can actually see their bonds growing stronger. This was so much so by the end of the 3rd movie, that in the 4th movie when Ron is jealous of Harry’s fame, and Harry’s about to go up against the dragon, it was rush of relief for me to see Hermoine rush to Harry’s pre-game tent and give him a huge hug. That was really touching after all the bonds of friendship that had grown over those four movies. And then they only grew stronger in the fourth and fifth one.
The sixth book and movie I’ll just ignore, because here in the 7th, we finally culminate that friendship with the three of them going on the lamb together, and those scenes with them being alone and having doubts and irritations and despair towards one another were just so human, and touching. I mentioned in another thread that one of my top favorite scenes was Harry’s friends appreciating his teaching them defense against dark arts in Order of the Phoenix, and being there for him when he needed them. And this right here, Harry, Ron and Hermoine being on the lamb together is my favorite moment in the entire series, because it’s the culmination of everything that has been built over the course of the series, and I just loved it. In the books, I wanted this section to keep going and going. And it did! It was so lovely.
And now, watching this movie, I love that they divided the 7th book into two movies, because you know that if they hadn’t done so, this is the part that would have been cut, and it would be a damn shame, because this is THE part that is the core of what the entire series has been building up to, from an emotional perspective, but not from a plot perspective, which is why it would have been cut.
I was also really impressed at how emotionally satisfying this ending was. This was a really natural point to end this first part. The confrontation with Beatrix (or however you spell her name) was really fantastic and exciting. After all they’d been through together in this movie, being in that cell, hearing Hermoine’s tortured screams was scary and really raised the stakes in that final confrontation. Beautifully done.